Agri-Food ScoreCard: top marks thanks to seafood

September 14, 2016

Tasmania’s agricultural and seafood sectors have cemented their place among our state’s greatest and fastest growing competitive strengths.

The release today of the latest Tasmanian Agri-Food ScoreCard Snapshot has confirmed what we have long believed, that our primary producers are achieving extraordinary results, despite many challenges.

The Scorecard has found that the value of agricultural production in the 2014-15 financial year was up to $1.438 billion, growing from $1.353 billion the previous year.

It was also great to see that our traditional markets of potatoes, apples, pears and beef are all key contributors to this growth.

The gross value of our seafood production is also on the up, increasing by a massive 12 per cent, to $825 million, including salmon that increased in value by $89 million to $620 million,

The strength of Tasmania’s brand – our reputation for producing premium, safe and world class produce – is also continuing to open doors, with international exports increasing in value by $35 million to $612 million, and national trade increasing by $252 million to $2.417 billion.

We know it’s been a tough year for our primary producers, but we will continue to be unwavering in our support of them and their communities, and share in their positive outlook.

As a Government we are supporting our farmers by investing in irrigation, biosecurity, productivity, research and development and skills. And, we are cutting red-tape to enable our farmers and fishers to get on with the job that they do best.

We have a strong vision for growing the value of agriculture to $10 billion by 2050, and for growth in our world class seafood sectors, and the latest ScoreCard shows we are well on track.